"Rigor" is the third episode of the fifth season of Only Murders in the Building, starring Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short. It originally aired on September 9, 2025, alongside the first and second episode.
Short Summary[]
The trio stumbles upon a crucial piece of evidence...and promptly compromises it. With time running out, they scramble to solve the mystery before the police close in on them.
Full Summary[]
Charles talks about the rise of automobiles rendering the horse stables under the Arconia obsolete. Soon after, the mob came in and found a more lucrative use for the space. They opened secret gaming rooms all over the city. Among them, The Velvet Room drew in the most influential people. It's rumored that the Empire State Building contract was awarded there. As things changed, the mob stayed the same.
Charles says he always assumed the Velvet Room was a myth. Mabel tells him not to beat himself up over it. And this makes a good opener for the podcast. She wonders if she should take some video, since a lot of podcasts are doing that now. They hear something through the vent above them and Mabel realizes it's Oliver. She asks if he's okay. Oliver says he's in the dry cleaners and found Nicky and that he's dead. Oliver rolls Nicky's body off him. Mabel asks if he has all his fingers. Oliver grabs his hand to check, but sneezes on the body in the process. Mabel tells him to stay calm and meet them in Charles's apartment. Charles warns him not to touch the body, unaware of what has happened.
Oliver rolls Nicky's body in a laundry basket back to the Arconia. He wheels it onto the elevator and tries to close it, only to have Uma hold it open and get on with him. Uma notices the smell and grows suspicious of Oliver. When she gets off, Oliver frantically closes the door. Then he proceeds to Charles's apartment, where Charles and Mabel are horrified by him bringing the body to them.
When Mabel and Charles question him, Oliver says he sneezed on the body. He knows it looks bad. He essentially blacked out. Charles asks why Oliver brought the body to his apartment and Oliver says he didn't want a dead body in his apartment. Charles says he's selfish as always. They start arguing until Mabel breaks it up and asks what they're planning to do with the body in front of them. Oliver and Charles are too focused on there being a body, so Mabel has to paint out that whoever put the body there isn't expecting it to be discovered until 7:00 AM. They need to get Oliver's DNA off and put the body back before then. She asks if anyone knows how to do that.
Oliver wipes down Nicky's shirt with wet wipes, then says he thinks he got himself off the body. At least now they know he has all his fingers. Oliver then notices something green under his nails, like their severed finger. Charles looks at it and says it's felt, exactly the felt they have in The Velvet Room. He used to deal cards on Poker night and knows how different felts feel. Charles feels weird calling the body by his name, but Mabel says that's the only thing they know about him. It's their first time not knowing a victim. Charles imagines Nicky's body taunting him about his own mortality. Charles wants to take the body out, but Mabel hesitates. She thinks his death might be linked to Lester's and wants to find out for sure. Charles doesn't think they're connected because they happened a week apart, but Oliver notes that Nicky's wearing the same clothes from the day of the wedding, so he might have been dead since then. Charles points out that the gardenia on his shirt isn't wilted, so he must have died more recently. Mabel agrees that it doesn't add up. They turns Lester's body over to the cops and they ruled his death an accident. This is an opportunity for them to look for clues they never have before. It'll also be good for the podcast. They decide to do an autopsy.
Oliver, Charles, and Mabel are all wearing gloves and begin examining Nicky's body, which they've laid out on Charles's counter. Mabel thinks the meat cleaver in his chest makes the cause of death pretty obvious. Charles again imagines Nicky's taunting him about his death. For time of death, Mabel recalls another true crime podcast where the case revolved around her time of death. Someone will need to check if Nicky's in rigor mortis. She reluctantly agrees to do it. His legs are limber, so he died within the last few hours or rigor mortis has already passed. Mabel says there's blood pooled by his ankles, which shouldn't happen right away. Mabel also finds something white on his sleeve, maybe cocaine. Oliver looks at it and says he can probably figure out where it came from. He sniffs it and Charles says it looks like paint.
They put pictures on the board as they continue the investigation. He has rope marks around his wrists and a burn behind his ear. Mabel records a blurb about their findings. She's cheerful because she feels like she's in a good place with her life. She feels like she's earned her spot in the building. Then she realizes they still don't have time of death. Oliver gets into Charles' fridge for leftovers. As it reheats, Oliver looks at the last texts he sent Lester, which show him getting increasingly aggravated about the missing shrimp. He shows the thread to Charles and worries it was the last thing Lester saw before he died. He wonders if he's a narcissist. Charles says only clinically. Oliver calls to Mabel in the next room, asking what the first word that comes to mind is when she thinks of him. She says narcissist. Charles says he can't change who he is. They're flawed people.
Charles and Oliver eat while they look over the murder board. The food is burned on the outside and freezing on the inside, which gives Mabel inspiration. She wonders if the burn on Nicky's ear is a freezer burn. That would explain why he hasn't decomposed. She checks his lips to see if they're chapped. When she opens his mouth, she finds a piece of paper inside. It has the Arconia logo on it. Charles says they should think about getting the body back. He opens the blinds to reveal it's daylight and realizes it's 6:45 AM. Mabel says they can do this. They'll just have to get the body back in less than 15 minutes.
They wheel the body back onto the elevator. Grover and Uma end up on the elevator with them and make faces at the smell. Uma says it's Oliver. Oliver says they're just headed to the dry cleaners. It's nothing out of the ordinary. Grover says that's perfect. He's on a time crunch and wonders if they can drop off his shirts for him in exchange for a free session. He puts his bag on top of the cart. At the next floor, someone else gets on and also makes a face. Oliver loudly says it's him and asks if they can drop it.
When they get off the elevator, Uma tells Randall the elevator is making a noise again, blocking the trio with the cart. He asks what kind of sound is, then flips through the ledger to check what Lester said about it. Oliver asks if they can have the conversation somewhere else, so they step aside. Mabel stops suddenly a few steps away, realizing the ledger has the same paper they found in Nicky's mouth. They need to get that ledger. Oliver says he'll charm it off him while Mabel and Charles get the body back to the dry cleaners. As they continue toward the door, they notice a large amount of paparazzi. Charles thinks it's for him, but they're actually after Althea. Mabel asks what she's doing there and she says she lives there now and she's shorted her name to Thē. Her team thought it would be easier for her fans. Since the changes, she's the most searched artist on Wondify. Charles continues on with the body, leaving Mabel to talk to Thē. She asks how Mabel is. Mabel says she's great, but she needs to run. Thē says Mabel hasn't changed at all. She'll see her a lot because she just bought the penthouse. Mabel is stunned by that news. The paparazzi come in and ask to take pictures with Thē and Bloody Mabel. Thē gestures for Mabel to come with her and says she'll get used to the paparazzi.
Charles gets the car back into the dry cleaners. The cart won't fit through a gap in the counters, so he has to empty it. As he goes to get Nicky out, Nicky asks about him getting DNA all over him again. Charles grabs some garment bags to cover his arms, then goes back to Nicky. He dumps the cart to get him out.
Oliver finds Randall, who has a crowd around him, and tells everyone to back off, that they'll get things in due time. He hisses until they all leave. Oliver says Randall is doing a great job, though he doesn't feel like he is. Oliver says he's a natural and probably doesn't even need the ledger. He tries to take it, but Randall stops him. Randall appreciates his kindness and wishes everyone were as kind as he is. Oliver says he really isn't that kind, then grabs the ledger from Randall and says this is the real Olvier Putnam.
Thē says even though she has other homes, her team advised her to buy somewhere more boring. She thought of the Arconia because it's all old people and Mabel. She asks if Mabel is still living with her aunt. Mabel says no, she has her own place, a studio, but it has everything she needs. She casually mentions her podcast, but Thē has never heard of it and can't find it in the top ten. Mabel says she might have to scroll a little bit. She finds it at number 17. Thē proposes coming on as a guest. She'd shoot right to the top. Mabel says she doesn't think they need that. They're pretty successful. Thē gets a phone call and steps away, saying it's her therapist.
Charles gets the body back into place. Then he notices a tattoo on Nicky's chest that says, "Death alone," a Pablo Neruda reference. He again taunts Charles about his death, then starts reciting "Death Alone." When the door opens, Charles rushes to hide. He watches as two officers come in. One thought the body was supposed to be hanging up, but the other just says to write it up like they said, saying he died that morning and the Caputo crime family is the top suspect. Charles takes a picture, making a shutter sound, which draws their attention.
The cops search for Charles, but he's able to elude them. They decide to leave before anyone sees them.
Mabel looks through Thē's social media. Charles comes in and says he put Nicky's body back, but the cops who found him are definitely crooked. He thinks there's a cover-up. Mabel apologizes for leaving him behind. He's glad she got to catch up with her friend, but Mabel says Thē isn't her friend. She used to be, but it ended poorly and she brings out the worst in Mabel. Charles says Mabel doesn't need her. She has her whole life ahead of her, unlike Charles, who will probably die alone. Oliver comes in with the ledger. He says it has notes on all the tenants, plus birdwatching notes. Mabel opens it and finds where the missing page was. She uses a piece of charcoal on the next page to show that he'd written down bird names. Mabel wonders why Nicky had a list of bird names with dollar amounts under them. Charles notes that it also has poker terms on it. Charles remembers that Lorraine said Lester liked comparing people to birds. Maybe it's code names and the dollar amounts are bets. Mabel flips through and says it looks like each page is a different week's game. They play Saturday at midnight, so there might be a game tonight. They have to go. Oliver and Charles scoff at being out so late. Mabel says the players that were there the night Lester and Nicky died might be back. They need to go early, find a place to hide, and see who they are. Oliver says if they're going to do that, they need to nap first.
Oliver checks out the tribute to Lester in the lobby and hears Randall giving himself a pep talk. He goes over and gives Randall the ledger back. He apologizes for the misunderstanding and asks if everything is okay. Randall says no, the building is falling apart without Lester. He didn't finish his training, so there's no way Randall can fill his shoes. Oliver starts to tell a story, which Randall says the ledger warned him would happen. The point of Oliver's story is that it's hard to follow a legend, so he should stop trying to be Lester. He can't be someone he's not. Randall thanks him and says he's a good guy. Oliver says he's lived in the Arconia for a while and offers to help Randall finish his training. Randall has a bunch of questions and asks to start right away. Oliver says right now, he has to take a nap, but he's there any other time. Randall thanks him.
Charles heads to bed.
Mabel sleeps in her bed.
Oliver naps on the couch.
Charles calls up the person running the trial he's in and asks for his next four doses.
Their alarms go off simultaneously at 11:30 and they get up.
Mabel says it's good they're getting there early. Charles opens the door and they go inside. Oliver is in awe of the room. They hear someone coming in behind them and run to hide. They watch as three people walk in. Mabel takes a picture of them and Charles starts to search for them, but Mabel is faster and finds out they're Sebastian Steed, a tech billionaire; Jay Pflug, heir to the Pflug pharma family; and Camila White, who owns half the hotels in New York. They're the new mob of New York. Charles, Mabel, and Oliver are horrified to hear them heading toward the bar they're hiding behind. Jay pours himself a drink and they notice his hand is bandaged because his finger is missing.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage
- Martin Short as Oliver Putnam
- Selena Gomez as Mabel Mora
- Michael Cyril Creighton as Howard Morris (credit only)
Guest starring[]
- Bobby Cannavale as Nicky Caccimelio
- Beanie Feldstein as Althea
- Jermaine Fowler as Randall Winston
- Jackie Hoffman as Uma Heller
- Russell G. Jones as Grover Stanley
- Logan Lerman as Jay Pflug
- Christoph Waltz as Bash Steed
- Renée Zellweger as Camila White
Co-starring[]
- Michael Benjamin Hernandez as Officer #1
- Jason Sweettooth Williams as Officer #2
Notes and Trivia[]
General[]
- The title sequence to this episode shows a red lipstick smudge across the moon in the night sky.
Cultural references[]
Soundtrack[]
Media[]
Episode Stills[]
Behind the Scenes[]
Videos[]
See Also[]
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A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here. |
References[]